Funding the FARC is Hugo Chavez' Death Wish

We met a driver during our June trip to Medellin Colombia, who told us he used to have a construction company. They built many of the roads we traveled on. But he lost it all when he had to ransom his brother from the hands of FARC guerillas. This week we learned that this evil terrorist group is being funded by a darling of some American liberals--Hugo Chavez.

When FARC second-in-command Raul Reye's laptop was opened, it was revealed that Chavez gave the FARC $300 million recently. That was after the FARC sent $150,000 to the president when he was imprisoned in Venezuela in 1992, just before the coup that put him in charge.

This is a delicious turn of events, because the FARC has been making life miserable for Venezuelan farmers, kidnapping them for ransom the way they've been doing to Colombians for years. Having evidence that Chavez actually funded these monsters has got to turn not only his own, but some of these bone-headed lefties against him.

I've met more than one Venezuelan who said he's crazy, and panders to the poorest of the poor with his beligerent statements and grand visions about redistributing wealth. One man was actually getting very agitated trying to explain how bad the guy is for their country.

Meanwhile, in Caracas there are basic food shortages and a very bad state-run economy. Chavez is trying to rattle his sabre at the Colombians, over the 'outrage' of them going after a mass murderer just one-mile into Ecuador's jungle. If push comes to shove, the Colombians will easily defeat the Venezuelans who have lots of equipment but not much training.

To a person, every Colombian we talked to feels very proud of what their president Uribe has done to fight the terrorist FARC, and I am glad we are allied and supporting the Colombians in their fight. I hope the next score will net Manuel Marulanda, who at 70 is the world's oldest terrorist leader, who no doubt is cowering in the Venezuelan jungle, hoping Chavez will protect him.